This invention relates to garment pressing machines and, more particularly, to a machine for pressing a garment sleeve and its associated arm hole region.
It has previously been proposed to reduce the number of operations required to press a sleeved garment, such as a suit jacket, by pressing a sleeve and its associated arm hole region in a single operation with the jacket suspended on a dummy. The dummy includes a sleeve form or support which is inserted in the sleeve and which cooperates at its upper end with a nipping member for pressing the arm hole region. The nipping member is larger than the arm hole so that when applied to the sleeve form it traps the fabric to be pressed at the junction of the sleeve and the body of the jacket.
In this previously proposed machine both the sleeve form and the nipping member are expansible to suit different garment sizes. The mechanism for accomplishing this is complicated and its operation causes vertical movement of a shoulder support and consequent displacement of the garment relative to the sleeve form and nipping member. Reliable pressing of the full arm hole region is therefore not possible over a wide range of garment sizes.
It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate the aforesaid disadvantages of the prior machine.
According to the present invention there is provided a garment pressing machine comprising a sleeve form for insertion into the sleeve of a garment to be pressed, and a nipping member for pressing the associated arm hole region of said sleeve upon relative movement of the sleeve form and the nipping member into pressing relationship, said form and said member each comprising two half sections flanking a wedge element which is position adjustable to move the half sections relative to each other and hence vary the overall size of said form or member.